Controversy erupts over V'land High valedictorian

May 8, 2012

Blake Pescatore / Craig Matthews

Written by

VINELAND — With the valedictorian and salutatorian set to be announced officially at the traditional Moving Up ceremony next week, a tug-of-war is under way for Vineland High School’s top two academic spots.

Senior Blake Pescatore was acknowledged publicly as the Class of 2012 valedictorian at a recent gathering of school’s top students, said her father, Richard Pescatore.

But some — including the current salutatorian Ivonna Dumanyan — question the methodology used to calculate critical grade point averages that determine class ranks.

They say it doesn’t add up.

If she had been bested in the classroom, Dumanyan said, she could accept it. But she feels “politics” may have been an influence.

On Monday, Dumanyan sent a letter to Board of Education members notifying them she is filing a grievance. Dumanyan, who celebrated her 18th birthday a month ago, is representing her own interests as a legal adult.

She told board members “my right to compete academically in class rank has been violated by the actions of Vineland Public Schools staff members.”

It isn’t bitterness motivating her battle, Dumanyan said, but a quest for a level and fair playing field for herself and students in future VHS graduating classes.

But Richard Pescatore called his daughter “the real deal — the best of the best” and suggested her challengers are “disgruntled.”

School district Superintendent Mary Gruccio confirmed she has called a meeting for today with the top three students. She said she could not comment on the matter until she spoke with the district’s legal counsel, who was returning to town today.

This year’s class rankings have been the subject of legal challenges.

Wendi Carlon Wolfe, mother of now third-ranked student Matthew Wolfe, has questioned the school board repeatedly about how she believes courses taken off-campus unfairly affect VHS grade point averages.

Her input helped shape the district’s Option 2 policy, which permits students to pursue off-campus educational opportunities, and tightened what were seen as loopholes that offer opportunities for some students to boost their grade point averages over those who completed their studies exclusively at VHS.

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But even as that policy was approved in February, parent Jane Jannarone called for an administrative review of courses and acquired credits of the top 10 VHS students to ensure none was benefiting at the expense of other students. Her daughter, Sarah, and classmate Stephanie Dzuziako, also were part of a legal challenge of grade point average calculations that later was withdrawn.

The same issue has resurfaced in the latest valedictorian spat.

Earlier this year, Carlon Wolfe had filed a petition with the state Department of Education that was set to be heard at an Office of Administrative Law hearing April 4.

“On the eve of our hearing, our attorney provided us with class rank calculations provided to him by the district that reflected a recalculation for Blake Pescatore. Initially it appeared that there would be no change in our son’s class rank so we reluctantly withdrew our petition,” she wrote in an April 26 letter to school board members.

But after closer review, Carlon Wolfe said, she believes the methodology “was flawed and designed to continue to give (Pescatore) an unfair academic advantage.”

Pescatore took an art class at Cumberland County College one summer during her high school years. That opened up a slot in her VHS schedule that was filled with an Advanced Placement course, which is called a “weighted” course. Because the AP class is more academically challenging, it carries more credit than a traditional college prep course.

Both Dumanyan and Carlon Wolfe suggest it would be “mathematically impossible” for Pescatore to be valedictorian if her grade point average were calculated based on current board policy.

Dumanyan, as the top student at VHS since her sophomore year, said her class rank dropped to No. 2 after the second marking period.

“It was a shock,” she said, explaining she tried to consider any possibilities where her 4.5079 grade point average was not good enough to be the best. “I was confused thinking, ‘Did I get a B in one of my classes?’”

Now she believes Pescatore’s off-campus studies contributed to the higher grade point average calculation. That’s an option closed to many financially strapped VHS students, she said.

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Richard Pescatore noted there’s been “misstatements of fact” about his daughter’s academic achievements. She had “specific written approval” from school administrators before she enrolled in the CCC art course, he said. She even was required to bring the class syllabus to VHS before it was authorized, he said.

Pursuing off-campus college courses was an option available to all students who had the initiative to request it, Richard Pescatore noted.

“Did they ask?” he said. “Everyone had that opportunity.”

Dumanyan noted she was awarded a grant and studied abroad for two months during the summer. She could have applied for academic credits for those studies, but the VHS Course Selection Handbook specifically spelled out that was not permitted.

Richard Pescatore noted that course book is a guide, and students could have asked about the policies.

Fierce competition among the top academic students at VHS isn’t new.

Richard Pescatore pointed to the common practice for top-achieving students to skip lunch period to add courses to their daily schedule. He did not permit his daughter to do that in her freshman and sophomore years because he wanted her to eat lunch.

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